Yangon Region Cap on Prices Cools Property Market Elsewhere

The Yangon Regional government’s decision to cap property prices has had a knock on effect on the property market in Mandalay, according to real estate agents.
Due to spiralling costs in the property market, which continue to make would-be foreign investors nervous about investing in Myanmar, the government set prices at between K320,000 ($310) and K30,000 ($28) per square feet depending on the township, something which Yangon-based realtors said had a positive effect on curbing prices.
“A cooling in the [property] market has occurred in Mandalay due to prices being set in Yangon,” said Daw Sein Sein Linn, from Ma Har Myae Estate Agency in Mandalay.
“The brokers involved in Mandalay’s property market between 2008 and 2010 now have more of an idea of what sort of profit that they can get, and that is between K50 million and K60 million per day. Mandalay’s property market, as things stand, cannot rise anymore and the market is slowing down,” Daw Sein Sein Linn said.
It is an experience that is being seen by other real estate agents in the city.
“Mandalay’s property market is not as bad as Yangon’s and now the current market has cooled,” said Ko Min Aung.
Deputy Finance Minister Dr Maung Maung Thein said that if the model proved a success in Yangon, then it would be used in other regions around the country. With Mandalay being the second largest city in the country, it is likely to be one of the next regions to see the plan implemented.